Rolling-mill plant



(No Model.) a sheets-sum 1.

L. 000K. ROLLING MILL PLANT.

Patented Aug. 22, 1893.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-8heet 2. L. 000K.

ROLLING MILL PLANT. No. 503,830. Patented Aug. 22, 1893.

No. 503,830. Patented Au izz, 1893;

| I 1 I I.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

LEROY COOK, OF WVOROESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

ROLLING-MILL PLANT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,830, dated August 22, 1893.

Application filed May 16, 1892. Serial No. 433,085. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEROY COOK, of the city and county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rolling-Mill Plants; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a skeleton plan of a rolling mill plant embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan upon an enlarged scale, of that portion of the plant shown in Fig. 1, to which my invention more particularly relates. Fig. 3 is a front side view of the parts shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse section upon a still larger scale taken on line 01;, Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a similar plan to Fig. 1 upon the same scale as said figure, showing a modification in the construction which will be hereinafter described.

Heretofore in making wire-rods and wire of unusual length, that is, longer than the usual length of billetswhen rolled down will produce, it has been customary, as is well known, to weld together the billets or rods independent of the rolling process, by forging and heating or brazing the ends together, and by heating the overlapping ends to be welded and then uniting the same by compression between rolls.

The main purpose of my invention, consists in combining suit-able electric welding and feed mechanism with an ordinary rolling mill plant; said mechanism being interposed between the usual billet mill, and the usual rod, rolling mill, preferably with a storage, heating furnace between said mechanism and the billet mill, whereby the rear end of each billet that has passed through the billet mill, and the forward end of each one following, may be successively welded together without interruption of the rolling or reducing process, and thereby producing a continuous rod of any desired length, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

Following is a detailed description of my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. o

In said drawings A represents the billet rolling mill, B a storage heating furnace, C

the electric welding and feed mechanism, and D a partition or guard for keeping the welded billets within proper limits upon the floor prior to entering the rod rolling mill.

E is a continuous rod rolling mill, F a Belgian rod rolling mill, G a combined switch and cutoff device and H, H the reels upon which the completed rods are coiled.

With the exception of the electric welding. and feed mechanism O, the various elements above referred to which constitute the completed plant, are of ordinary, well-known construction and operation, and are therefore as before stated, shown only in skeleton form, no claim being made to the special construction thereof.

In practice the blooms are passed through the billet mill A, and reduced to billets of the desired size and length, and then to rods, by passing through the rod rolling mill or mills, as ordinarily, except that instead of being treated independently in separate pieces, each successive billet is welded to the one following, as they are continuouslyfed forward, thus forming a continuous strand of any desired length, said length being limited only by the duration of the supply of billets and operation of the mill. I perform said welding operation by means of electricity applied to the two abutting ends of the billets to be united, in any suitable manner whereby said ends may be fused to a welding heat. As this result may be accomplished by means of various electrical appliances, 1 do not limit myself to any special construction, the main or essential feature which Idesire to cover being the re sult attained for the purpose specified, rather than the special means employed to effect said result. The welding mechanism shown in the drawings, see more especially Figs. 2 and 3 is constructed, arranged and operated in the following manner: Upon the bed I, are mounted the stationary, longitudinal, grooved guides at a, in which are fitted guide-plates b I) having longitudinal grooves in their upper sides to receive the billets 0, (see cross-section Fig. t.) The guide-plate b is preferably fastened in the guide a,while guide-plate b is fitted to slide in guide a, and is provided with an operating lever d pivoted to bed I at d and to the guide-plate at 01 the purpose of which will be later described. To the inner end of each guide-plate Z) Z) are secured suitable clamping devices e e adapted to clamp and release the abutting ends of the billets as required in welding said ends. The electric current for fusing said abutting ends to a welding heat is supplied from a dynamo J, connected in a suitable manner by means of wiresf with the parts to be operated upon.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to weld two pieces of metal together by means of electricity, and therefore make no claim thereto, except for the purpose herein set forth.

The manner of applying the electric current from the dynamo being well understood, it is deemed unnecessary to illustrate or describe the same in detail. The part K represents an rdinary reactive coil for regulating the strength of the electric current, and C a pair of feedu'ollsfor feedingforward the billets after they are weld ed. Said rolls are, in practice, run at a high rate of speed, so as to feed the billets forward very rapidly in order to give time for performing the aforesaid welding operation without stopping the rod rolling mills, the welding being done while the ends of the billets are held stationaryin the interval between said rapid feed movement and the time occupied by the rod rolling mill in taking up the slack thereby produced. hen thus fed forward the last billets and those previously welded together are kept within proper limits by the partition or guard D, said welded billets first passing around just inside of the guard, as shown by full lines g in Fig. 1, and then gradually drawn forward and shortened by the rod mill to the length shown by dotted lines 7r in said figure. By the time the slack has been taken up to this point, the weldin of the two ends has been accomplished, and the billet is again quickly fed forward and so on continuously, one billet after another being welded to the preceding one until the desired length of rod has been produced. In welding the two ends together, the rear end 2' of the preceding billet is held in the clamp e which is mounted on the slide Z) so as to move with it; the new billet is thcn drawn out of furnace B by means of the usual tongs M, and its forward end j is moved up against said rear end i and clamped by means of the clamp e. The operator then turns on the electric current by means of the switch 7; and taking the lever (Z in his right hand, and the lever K of the reactive coil K in his left hand, operates the latter to turn on the requisite strength of current for welding, and at the same time with his right hand by means of lever (Z holds the ends of the billets in contact until they are properly welded together. He then throws back the lever 11 andswitch 7r, unclasps the billets, and operates the shipper leverlof the feed-rolls 0 thereby causing said billets to be fed forward ready for the next welding process, when the above operation is repeated.

In practice the feed-rolls are driven at a high rate of speed so as to quickly feed the billets forward, as previously stated, and thus give time for the ends to be welded while held stationary as aforesaid.

If desired, water may be supplied to the welding mechanism by a pipe 121. to keep the parts in a cool condition, but I do not limit myself thereto, or to the use of the storage heating furnace l3, although it is preferable to employ both in practice.

I also reserve the right to weld the two ends together while in motion, by supporting the same on a suitable carriage N, arranged to travel on tracks 0, O, as is shown in Fig. 5- the parts which support and clamp the ends of the billets being mounted on said carriage, and the latter provided in practice with suitable means for operating the same. By the last described construction it is obvious that the billets may be passed directly to the rod- 1nill instead of spreading the same on the floor after being welded, the welding being done in this instance while the carriage is moving forward.

Although practically the same result is at tained by both ways the one first described is preferable, for the reason that the welding may be better accomplished while the ends are held stationary, less attention is required from the operator and the cost of the plant is less than by the last described construction.

Another advantage of the stationary welding method over the other is, that the time allowed for welding is not as limited, for the reason that by running out considerable slack before passing the front end of the first billet into the rolling mill quite a variation in time is allowed for performing the welding operation; whereas, by the other method only the time occupied by the carriage in moving the length of one billet is allowed for per forming said operation, and considerable time is also wasted in returning the carriage to its original position next to the storage furnace. Said return movement may be performed by any suitable driving mechanism connected with the carriage.

It will of course be understood that both the continuous and Belgian rod mills E, F, may be used in connection with my improvements, or either one separately, as may be required in practice.

The advantages of welding the billets and reducing the same to rods continuously, as they are turned out by the billet mill, will at once be apparent to those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains.

The production may be greatly increased as well as improved in quality, for the reason that, being run through in one continuous strand, there is less danger of buckling in passing from one pair of rolls to another, and no fins are formed in passing through the rolls as is customarily the case. Therefore there is, practically no waste from this cause, or from cutting off the usual waste ends. Furthermore, a Belgian mill may be converted into a continuous mill, and thereby increase the production of this class of mills.

The production of a continuous strand of any desired length, it is obvious is of especial advantage in the manufacture of copper rods for electrical purposes; and finally, less operators are required for a rolling millplantthus equipped, and the danger to said operations is reduced to a minimum.

Having now described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Combined rolling and welding mechanism comprising in combination the following elements, viz: a heating furnace; an electric welding device provided with suitable holding and feed mechanismand suitable rod reducing rolls, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. Y

2. Combined rolling and welding mechanism comprising in combination the following elements, viz: a series of billet reducing rolls; a heating furnace; an electric welding device provided with suitable holding and feed mechanism, and suitable rod reducing rolls, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination with the heating furnace and rod reducing rolls of a rolling mill plant, of an electric welding device interposed between said furnace and rolls, consisting of an electric generator or motor and means for applying the current therefrom to the billets to be welded, suitable clamps for holding said billets and means for feeding the same forward, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

LEROY COOK.

Witnesses:

' A. A. BARKER,

(3. Fonnns'r Wesson. 

